This week's contribution was sent in by a friend who wishes to remain anonymous.
Don't burn bridges!
In a previous job, I worked at a unigwon (the private language institute connected to a university) and, well, the director was a real piece of work. She was extremely tough to deal with. She seemingly had personality clashes with everyone on the staff. Somehow I thought I could help her (she did have some good qualities) and worked with her to be a better communicator and more supportive of the staff. I ended up being her assistant director and and one of the main parts of the job was to make her message more palatable for the foreign staff. Anyway, she yelled at me once. She was literally screaming in my face. It was about a very minor problem but she took the chance to yell at me. It was a small miscommunication. I am not always the calmest fellow around but somehow I managed to keep my cool. I told her, "That one is free. If you ever yell at me again, I'm done. I will quit that minute." Then, a few months later she yelled at me again and I had my resignation in her hands in 27 minutes. The important thing here is that upon leaving I made it seem like I was leaving for other opportunities including studying and mentioned that it was a positive experience. I gave her a chance to save face with the higher ups and said working there was a positive experience overall for which I was appreciative. We kept in touch after I left Korea to do my MA and then later I returned for a job in another city.
Around 1.5 years later out of the blue I got a call from her and she wanted to know if I’d be interested in a job at a university in Seoul and if I had my MA in hand. Since she was asking for a friend of hers and it wouldn’t involve working for her again I said yes and yes. The rest, as they say, is history and I’m still happily employed there.
If you have a networking story to share, please send it to [email protected].
Don't burn bridges!
In a previous job, I worked at a unigwon (the private language institute connected to a university) and, well, the director was a real piece of work. She was extremely tough to deal with. She seemingly had personality clashes with everyone on the staff. Somehow I thought I could help her (she did have some good qualities) and worked with her to be a better communicator and more supportive of the staff. I ended up being her assistant director and and one of the main parts of the job was to make her message more palatable for the foreign staff. Anyway, she yelled at me once. She was literally screaming in my face. It was about a very minor problem but she took the chance to yell at me. It was a small miscommunication. I am not always the calmest fellow around but somehow I managed to keep my cool. I told her, "That one is free. If you ever yell at me again, I'm done. I will quit that minute." Then, a few months later she yelled at me again and I had my resignation in her hands in 27 minutes. The important thing here is that upon leaving I made it seem like I was leaving for other opportunities including studying and mentioned that it was a positive experience. I gave her a chance to save face with the higher ups and said working there was a positive experience overall for which I was appreciative. We kept in touch after I left Korea to do my MA and then later I returned for a job in another city.
Around 1.5 years later out of the blue I got a call from her and she wanted to know if I’d be interested in a job at a university in Seoul and if I had my MA in hand. Since she was asking for a friend of hers and it wouldn’t involve working for her again I said yes and yes. The rest, as they say, is history and I’m still happily employed there.
If you have a networking story to share, please send it to [email protected].
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